Search Results for: dogs

by Dish Staff The Internet recently was filled with reports that Pope Francis said “yes.” Alas, it turns out to have been a misunderstanding: According to initial reports Francis had been comforting a small boy over the death of his dog, when he declared, “One day we will see our animals again in eternity of Christ. … Continue reading Will All Dogs Really Go To Heaven?

In a recent Guardian live chat, the frequently-entertaining pop philosopher Slavoj Zizek added his two cents: What do you think we can learn from cats, if anything? Nothing. I like to search for class struggle in strange domains. For example it is clear that in classical Hollywood, the couple of vampires and zombies designates class struggle. … Continue reading Dogs vs Cats: The Great Debate, Ctd

by Dish Staff The current Jeff Koons retrospective at the Whitney is leaving many critics cold. Jed Perl describes the exhibit as “a succession of pop culture trophies so emotionally dead that museumgoers appear a little dazed as they dutifully take out their iPhones and produce their selfies”: Presented against stark white walls under bright … Continue reading Taking The Air Out Of Balloon Dogs

by Dish Staff In response to this post, a reader writes: Domestic cats are very diffident companions indeed, but they are still the most popular pet in the world. Probably because they require less maintenance than dogs both psychically and physically. This makes them one of the most successful mammalian species on Earth in terms … Continue reading Dogs vs Cats: The Great Debate, Ctd

by Dish Staff Henri Cole cites Rilke’s thoughts on the age-old divide: Look at the dogs: their confident and admiring attitude is such that some of them appear to have renounced the oldest traditions of dogdom in order to worship our own customs and even our foibles. It is just this which renders them tragic and … Continue reading Dogs vs Cats: The Great Debate, Ctd

A reader writes: It really is true that it is more work to appreciate the features of a black dog. For instance, in this photo of my dog, you can barely see his eyes: Or his body. Or his feet. Another can relate: I volunteered at a shelter and noticed this problem too. I adopted a … Continue reading The Bias Against Black Dogs, Ctd

A sad fact: Black dogs get euthanized at higher rates. They linger at pounds and adoption agencies for longer than light-colored dogs, and they are less likely to find a home. Marika Bell, director of behavior and rehoming for the Humane Society of Washington, D.C., says the organization has been tracking animals that have stayed at … Continue reading The Bias Against Black Dogs

Cognitive researcher Brian Hare suggests that the secret to canine intelligence “may be nothing more than a good attitude”: Hare had his epiphany while studying silver foxes in Siberia – animals researchers have bred for decades, selecting for tamer and tamer animals every generation until today they are docile as golden retrievers. When Hare first noticed that dogs … Continue reading Dogs Have People Smarts

The latest from science: The researchers measured the direction of the body axis of 70 different dogs while they were off-leash during 1,893 acts of defecation and 5,582 acts of urination over a two-year period. They found that, under calm magnetic field conditions, dogs prefer to orient their bodies along the North-South axis when they … Continue reading Unraveling The Mystery Of Crapping Dogs

Neuroscientist Christof Koch talks to Wired about human and animal consciousness: WIRED: Does a lack of self-consciousness mean an animal has no sense of itself? Koch: Many mammals don’t pass the mirror self-recognition test, including dogs. But I suspect dogs have an olfactory form of self-recognition. You notice that dogs smell other dog’s poop a lot, but they … Continue reading If Only We Were Dogs …